ZIMBABWE COURT REMOVES MARRY MUBAIWA FROM REMAND

A court in Harare has removed Marry Mubaiwa from remand after seven years facing a charge of attempting to murder her former husband, Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga. Magistrate Musaiona Shotgame rejected the prosecution’s request to postpone the trial for a month while it engaged witnesses. Mubaiwa celebrated outside court on Tuesday and praised her lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa. “Ah tahwina isu (we have won). I’m so happy,” Mubaiwa said. Shotgame said the proceedings had caused Mubaiwa mental, physical and financial prejudice.

Prosecutors charged Mubaiwa in 2019 after Chiwenga accused her of trying to impede his medical treatment in South Africa. The attempted murder allegation concerned a period when Chiwenga was in hospital in Pretoria. He later spent four months receiving treatment in China. Authorities initially remanded Mubaiwa in custody and denied her bail. The marriage broke down in 2019, and Mubaiwa has faced other criminal proceedings since then.

Mtetwa said the length of the case had violated her client’s constitutional rights. She said the trial had made no progress for 22 months because Chiwenga had not attended court, and questioned why authorities had issued no arrest warrant for him. The proceedings had neared the stage of Chiwenga’s testimony before the presiding magistrate’s elevation to the High Court disrupted the trial. Mtetwa said the prosecution might seek to reopen the case and that the defence would respond if it did. Chiwenga played a key role in the 2017 removal of then President Robert Mugabe.